Henderson's murder trial gets under way in Circuit Court

Girlfriend testifies defendant admitted to shooting a woman

The murder trial of Shawn M. Henderson opened Tuesday with the defendant's lawyer telling the jury that blame for the shooting death of a Gaithersburg woman in April rests with another man — one acquitted of the murder by a jury last month.

On the first day of the Montgomery County Circuit Court trial, Henderson's girlfriend testified that he told her during a phone call that he had shot the woman.

Henderson, 26, is charged with shooting Lindsay Marie Harvey, 25, in the head during a robbery outside her home at the Grove Park apartment complex on Quince Orchard Boulevard early April 13. Henderson was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

His cousin, Aaron Shepherd, 20, was found guilty last month of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, but was found not guilty of first-degree murder. Public defender Audrey Creighton appears set to put the focus on Shepherd on again, contending in her opening statement that he was responsible for Harvey's death.

Shepherd and a third defendant, Anthony Moore, 16, of Gaithersburg acted "as a robbery team" with Henderson during the attack on Harvey, prosecutors said during Shepherd's trial. Moore faces a trial on adult charges next month.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Harvey, a DNA analyst at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, went to Baltimore with friends on April 12.

The same night, Henderson, of Landover, a former resident of Grove Park whose mother lived on Clopper Road, went to Gaithersburg and visited his uncle, David Shepherd of West Deer Park, Aaron Shepherd's father. Henderson showed his uncle a 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and asked for money, Assistant State's Attorney George Simms said in his opening.

"Look what I got! Look what I got. I need some money. You got any money?" recounted Simms, alleging that when David Shepherd replied no, Henderson said, "Well, I guess I got to do what I got to do."

Henderson left the house around 8 p.m. and at 11 p.m. went to Grove Park where six young men, including Aaron Shepherd and Moore, were hanging out.

He flashed the handgun and loaded and unloaded it as he asked, "Y'all know anyone I can rob?" Simms said.

But Creighton cast doubt on Simms' accounting of the father's story.

"Blood is thicker than water," she said in her opening. "There is no stronger bond, no closer a tie than that between a parent and a child."

Creighton said that the day after the shooting, David Shepherd "dialed 9-1-1 and told a story to the police to convey what his son, his natural son, Aaron Shepherd had done."

She described Henderson's uncle as a convicted felon who had a son that was shot and killed at 19. Almost a year ago, she said, his 22-year-old son nearly died after being shot.

"And after Aaron Shepherd told him the horrible story" of what had happened, Creighton said, David Shepherd put the blame on his nephew. He called police and did not tell his wife, who is Henderson's maternal aunt.

Henderson was "very drunk" the Saturday night Harvey was killed, Creighton said, having consumed one mixed drink, followed by six mugs of straight gin and a Coke bottle full of gin.

Creighton and Simms spent Monday sifting through 100 potential jurors to hear the case, which has inspired legislation to strengthen sentences, especially for violent offenders.

Henderson was charged in 1999 with two counts attempted first-degree murder and nine other counts in three armed robberies, in which police said he slashed three people's throats. He pleaded guilty in 2000 to three counts of armed robbery and one count of carrying a weapon openly with intent to injure. Henderson was released from prison in April 2006 after having his original sentence shortened in a process called reconsideration and earning good behavior credits.

Henderson's girlfriend, Ashley Spriggs of Landover, testified Tuesday that the morning after Harvey's death she spoke with Henderson by telephone from his uncle's house. He sounded "like something was wrong…worried, scared," she said, adding that Henderson told her that he had been around his old neighborhood and bumped into his cousin.

"They was playing," she said. "They just found a lady coming out of her car."

Spriggs continued, saying that Henderson told her that he and "his cousins…saw a lady coming out of her car, tried to rob her, put a gun up to her… . He told her to shut up and then she got loose and ran over to the Dumpster and he shot her in the back of the head."

Spriggs said that Henderson told her he stole $40 from her. She testified that Henderson said his cousin "witnessed it" and was "making, like, a scene."